Submission to the Draft General Comment on
Article 6: Women with Disabilities
Association of Women with Disabilities (ENGKAD)
Address: Sanli İs Merkezi Ataturk Bulvari No:105/515 Kizilay/Cankaya
ANKARA-TURKEY
Phone: +90 312 362 31 50/ +90 549 362 31 50
Email: engellikadindernegi@gmail.com, idilseda@yahoo.com
Web: http://www.engellikadin.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/engellikadin
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eng_kad
Association of Women with Disabilities (ENGKAD) thanks to the Committee for this
opportunity given for the purpose of delivering opinion on Draft General Comment on Article
6: Women with Disabilities. Such notifications are of critical importance particularly for nongovernmental organizations which carry their operations in the states parties of United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) but have not
delivered their inception report to the committee yet.
Women with disabilities constitute a significant part of disabled population in Turkey,
however, their problems resulting from being women and being disabled which create a
double disadvantage have been ignored until very recently in the country. And due to the lack
of associations or any other non-governmental organizations specialized in the rights and
needs of women with disabilities in Turkey, which seemed to be a significant gap in this area,
the idea of ENGKAD was born in 2009. Although ENGKAD has been carried out their
activities as an initiative between 2009-2011, our team decided to become an association with
the name of “Engelli Kadın Derneği (Association of Women with Disabilities) in September
2011, in Ankara-Turkey. Today, ENGKAD is a nationally recognized non-governmental
organization and is run by women with disabilities for women with disabilities. Its
membership is open to both disabled and non-disabled women. Since the very first day of
ENGKAD, it has been carrying out different projects to inform women with disabilities on
the subjects of discrimination, disability rights, gender, violence against women and possible
protection mechanisms. Although ENGKAD is an organization based in Ankara, it is working
in different cities of Turkey as well. In these cities, ENGKAD has been carrying out seminars
designed to inform women with disabilities to understand and demand their rights1. Also,
monitoring the violence against women is current research and reporting activity of
ENGKAD.
In Turkey, according to the Monitoring Report on Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in
Turkey 2 (2011), the largest and the only statistical research is the one titled “Turkey
Disability Survey” ordered to State Institute of Statistics (DIE/TURKSTAT) by Turkish
Prime Ministry Department of the Administration of the Disabled (OZIDA) in 2002.
According to the survey results, the ratio of the disabled population to the total population is
12.29%. Accordingly, approximately 8.5 million people go on with their lives as disabled
persons. The survey also analyzed the demographic structures of the disabled population.
However, considering that the survey was made by sampling method, it is possible to say that
the numeric values are approximate and estimated. Because the number of households being
subject to the survey is 97,433. Thus, it will not be wrong to say that the quantitative size of
1
These seminars (each seminar lasts approximately three days) have been carried out in various cities
in Turkey with different development levels. Through the project of “Right Based Struggle for Women
with Disabilities Steps”, women with disabilities are informed on the subjects of discrimination,
disability rights, women rights, gender issues, violence against women and possible protection
mechanisms. At the second stage of these seminars, participants are asked to organize local events to
disseminate their knowledge and experiences. This is a long-term effort for ENGKAD. The
participation to these seminars has always been intense and multiplier effects can be seen in the field.
For instance; two new associations were established by women who participated in and inspired from
ENGKAD’s seminars and in different occasions seminar participants organized independent local
activities on the topics we have covered together. Alongside these, also ENGKAD has valuable
achievements such as documentary film on the daily life of disabled women (unique example in
Turkey), booklets showing analysis on the conditions, problems and needs of women with disabilities
in Turkey (the first example in Turkey which is followed by other NGOs and organizations) and
training kits for facilitators of the seminars mentioned above.
2
Monitoring Report on Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Turkey (2011)
http://www.insanhaklarimerkezi.bilgi.edu.tr/docs/Engellilik_Izleme_Raporu.doc (date of
access:24.06.2015)
the disabled in Turkey is still one of the subjects to be researched. On the other hand,
demographical qualities of the disabled, i.e. the qualities such as the structure, condition and
dynamic properties of the population, are still among the subjects to be researched. ENGKAD
has not been able to reach the exact number of disabled women living in Turkey yet, despite
its comprehensive researches and formal applications. As emphasized particularly in the
fourth section of the Draft General Comment, gender and disability sensitive data should be
collected and analyzed in national implementations (UNCRPD Article 33). In data collection
systems, special indicators and measures should be established for disabled women in
particular. Otherwise, it is not possible to benefit from scientific data and to monitor the
developments regarding the disabled women focusing on the data, while creating policies
binding disabled women. Additionally, application systems run under the scope of right to
information act are not accessible for many disabled people. Therefore, disabled women
cannot efficiently use these systems to learn their rights and to access some specific
information regarding themselves. Thus, data sharing systems of the legal bodies should be
accessible and should be designed in easy to use formats.
Cases of violence against women, one of the main worries determined for disabled women by
the Committee, is an important problem also for Turkey. Even though Turkey has signed
important agreements in the international arena for the purpose of removing discrimination
and violence against women, it is still unable to protect women from violence in the national
level. In 1985, CEDAW was signed and ratified by Turkey3; and in 2011 Council of Europe
Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence,
also known as Istanbul Convention, which was opened for signature in Istanbul, one of
Turkey’s important cities, was signed by Turkey and put into effect in 2014. Unfortunately
despite all these conventions, Turkey is still unable to combat violence against women.
According to the data reflected in the press in year 20154, 141 women were killed, 58 women
were raped, 121 women were forced to prostitution, 193 women were injured and 145 women
were harassed only in the first six months of 2015.
Keeping in mind that the cases of violence against women is an important problem in Turkey,
ENGKAD has carried out monitoring studies on violence against disabled women in Turkey
by analyzing data of 2013 and 2014 obtained from various resources and prepared a report as
a result of this study.
According to the data in this report, disabled women in Turkey are unfortunately unable to
have knowledge of their rights, access violence denunciation mechanism effectively, reach
the police and the judicial authorities, receive legal aid, and benefit from women’s shelters
efficiently. Yet, as indicated in the Draft General Comment, emergency hotlines should be
convenient especially for the access of deaf and deafblind women, women’s shelters should
be established and legal authorities should have experts/translators who know sign language.
In the report, news in the media of 2013-2014 was searched, and it was found in the news that
a considerable amount of cases of violence against disabled women happened in closed
institutions such as nursing home, aged care facility and live-in rehabilitation centers. It is
already a known fact from different reports that closed institutions create violence for the
3
As is known, no special regulation was made regarding violence against women, but the Committee
took two recommendations on the subject. In CEDAW Committee Recommendation 12, it is stated that
member states are liable for protecting women from violence; and in Recommendation 19 it is
emphasized that violence against women is a result of discrimination based on sex and stated that state
reports to be presented to the committee must give a place to the developments about violence against
women.
4
Man killed 21 women in June. The Independent Communication Network (Bianet) (date of news:
07.07.2015) https://www.bianet.org/english/women/165855-men-kill-21-women-in-june (date of
access:15.07.2015)
disabled.5 However the fact that violence can still not be prevented in institutions despite the
revealed news and written reports is a sign that these institutions are not supervised and
monitored sufficiently. Moreover, in some cases victims may be taken under legal protection
and placed in some institutions because of the violence they are subjected to in the outer
environment. A victim who is placed in an institution that creates violence will just have
changed the environment of violence and will unfortunately be unable to avoid being
subjected to violence. Additionally, a victim who is known to be subjected to violence before
has a higher risk of getting subjected to violence in the environment of violence.
For many women, violence begins at home. Domestic violence is a serious problem in
Turkey. As confirmed by the data obtained from the shared experiences of women who
participated in seminars organized by ENGKAD in 8 cities of Turkey, domestic violence and
sexual abuse against disabled women are very common especially among married couples.
However, societal prejudices reinforce domestic violence against women, since abuse is
generally considered part of marital life, rather than a crime. There should be mechanisms for
making these cases visible and supporting victims and survivors to move away from the
environment of violence.
Whereas, Article 16 of UNCRPD makes States Parties liable to ensure that all facilities and
programs designed to serve persons with disabilities are effectively monitored by independent
authorities in order to prevent the occurrence of all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse.
Also, Article 33 of UNCRPD calls States Parties for civil society, in particular persons with
disabilities and their representative organizations, to be involved and participate fully in the
monitoring process. At this point, coordination of non-governmental organizations with
public institutions under the supervision of closed institutions shall enhance the cooperation
between organizations; ensure that closed institutions work in a more transparent structure
and cases of violence are prevented.
Again according to the media data analyzed in the report, it is seen that women of every age
and every disability group are in the target of those committing violence. However, it is
revealed that particularly women with intellectual disabilities frequently get victims of
violence, especially sexual violence. Also in the identified violence cases, the person
exposing violence is mostly an acquaintance (or acquaintances) of the victim, and it is even
seen that the committing person is usually one of the family members.
It is also a frequently encountered situation that disabled women get pregnant after rape cases
and are compelled to undergo an abortion by the court decision. At this point, it is seen that
the principle of protecting personal integrity projected in UNCRPD Article 17 is violated;
physical integrity of disabled women is not protected and is even repeatedly violated by
different persons and public bodies. Besides, it is observed that UNCRPD Article 12 is
violated and disabled women are unable to take a decision on the issues regarding themselves.
The fact that surgical and medical personnel performing interventions are uninformed about
the violations causes disabled women and girls to be subjected to interventions without being
sufficiently informed.
Media news has been an important source of data in ENGKAD’s studies of monitoring
violence. However, it is a frequent situation in media data that the language used in the media
is highly masculine and that particularly news on sexual violence is presented almost in
pornographic details and in a way to aggrieve the victim again. As indicated by
corresponding the Draft General Comment, mass media should get acquainted with the issue
5
Behind Closed Doors: Human rights abuses in the psychiatric facilities, orphanages and rehabilitation
centers of Turkey, 2005. Mental Disability Rights International. http://www.driadvocacy.org/wpcontent/uploads/turkey-final-9-26-05.pdf (date of access:11.05.2015)
of rights of disabled women, and perform broadcasting in a way to avoid aggrieving women
and in compliance with the spirit of UNCRPD (Article 8).
Turkey is one of the most important migration paths for refugees. Refugees who want to
migrate from their countries especially to European countries use Turkey as the passing route;
moreover in the report published by International Organization for Migration, it is stated that
Turkey is the second biggest route for passing to Europe 6 . Therefore, Turkey hosts a
considerable population of refugees. During the monitoring study, ENGKAD made the
necessary applications to the related organizations and requested information about the
disabled women living in Turkey, however was not able to access the desired data.
According to UN data, 51.2 million people were forced to displacement worldwide as of the
end of 2013, and this number increased to very high levels and reached 46.3 million people
only in the first half of the year (in the first 6 months period) in 20147. When these data are
taken into account, it is impossible to deny the presence of disabled women in the displaced
population. It is one of the important demands of ENGKAD that a more comprehensive
evaluation is made on the condition of disabled women who have been displaced, in the Draft
General Comment.
Also in the monitoring study, ENGKAD was not able to access the number of disabled female
prisoners and convicts staying in penal institutions and to obtain information on the special
measures issued for disabled women in these institutions. As stated in Handbook on Prisoners
with Special Needs published in the series of Handbooks for Criminal Justice by United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), “disabled female prisoners are particularly
at high risk of abuse, violence, sexual assault and rape by other prisoners” 8. Therefore,
ENGKAD wanted to obtain data on this group which is likely to become the target of other
prisoners and the prison personnel due to their vulnerable conditions, however was unable to
reach the information required from the related resources. The condition of disabled female
prisoners did not take place in the Draft General Comment again; it is one of our demands to
extend the group in a way to cover the vulnerable condition of this group as well.
According to the data of the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), a total number of 17
million 559 thousand 989 students benefit from organized education in 2014-2015 school
year. As mentioned before, the ratio of the disabled population to the total population is
12.29% according to Turkey Disability Survey. However, considering the statistics of
education, it is seen that disabled students constitute only 1.48% of total student population. It
is obvious that disabled students are not able to access education under equal opportunities
with their peers. With respect to female students, the picture is even more pessimistic. Again
according to the statistics, of 14 million 950 thousand 897 students who receive education in
public schools, 7 million 279 thousand 547 (48.7%) are female; and 7 million 671 thousand
350 (51.3%) are male students. Comparing the number of the students without disabilities on
the basis of gender, it is observed that the difference between the female and male students is
around 2.6%. However, it is a noticeable fact that the difference increases to 23% when the
rates of female and male students are compared in inclusive students. When this data is taken
into account, it is possible to say that disabled females are highly disadvantaged in access to
the right of education. In the statistics published in 2002, the proportional difference between
6
Marmara, new migration route of refugees Agos Newspaper (date of news: 03.11.2014)
http://www.agos.com.tr/tr/yazi/8374/marmara-multecilerin-yeni-goc-yolu-oldu (date of
access:03.06.2015)
7
UNHCR, Mid Year Trends 2014 Report. http://www.unhcr.org.tr/?content=611 (date of
access:12.07.2015)
8 See. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), series of Handbooks for Criminal
Justice, Handbook on Prisoners with Special Needs. (2009).
http://www.cezaevindestk.org/belgeler/ozel_ihtiyaclara_sahip_mahpuslar_uzerine_el_kitabi.pdf (date
of access: 01.06.2015)
illiterate disabled females and disabled males is figured as 25%. It is clear that the situation
has not changed in favor of disabled women and girls within the course of 13 years.
Education is an important process which provides students with necessary qualifications for
being an individual and prepares them for social life. Therefore, it is a must that students
benefit from educational opportunities at the maximum level. Considering the development of
the disabled students, accessing educational opportunities have a vital importance. However,
it is clear from the official data that students are unable to access education opportunities
sufficiently. Yet, another important fact is the unjust treatment on the disabled students
accessing education environment. In the monitoring study carried out by ENGKAD, it was
desired to collect data on the students who are not able to benefit from equal educational
opportunities due to the violence committed by their peers or teachers, but the related data
was not obtained from The Ministry of National Education. Yet, in the study which is made
by another non-governmental organization (Social Rights and Researches Association –
TOHAD, Turkey) and analyzes data of 2012-2013, it is seen that 87 incidents were reported
including cases of ill treatment, assault, rape and death in educational institutions 9. Again in
the same report, it is stated that the ministry is asked whether any investigation is carried out
on preventing the right of education in issues such as violence, rape, sexual assault, but noted
that MoNE replied there was no investigation carried out on these issues. Yet when the media
news including that period was analyzed, cases were seen where victim students had made
denunciations. It is understood from this case that the ministry does not lean towards sharing
information on these cases, and also is not able to prevent disabled women from getting
subjected to violence in education environment. When UNCRPD Article 24 is taken into
consideration, schools should make related arrangements to provide disabled women and girls
with the maximum level of access to education; and take the necessary preventive precautions
for the unjust suffering of violence (including peer violence) to be committed on disabled
women and girls in education environment.
9
Akbulut, S. Özgül, H. Tezcan T. (2014) Disability Rights Monitoring Report 2013: From Legislation
to Implementation (In Turkish: Mevzuattan Uygulamaya Engelli Hakları İzleme Raporu), Social Rights
and Researches Association (TOHAD), Istanbul.
http://www.engellihaklariizleme.org/tr/files/belgeler/kitap_2013.pdf (date of access: 12.04.2015)